Dwindling Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Enugu State Nigeria: Diagnosing Teacher-Student Relationship for Therapy

One of the purest, deeply and inspirational relationships is that of a devoted teacher and willing students. Almost everyone has a favorite and those we liked less, it totally depends on how the student-teacher relationship were developed, nurtured and given space to evolve. Currently the academic performance of students in secondary schools has dropped inexorably across the Country. Enugu State not excluded. The study therefore examined the effect of teacher-students relationship on the academic performance of senior secondary school students in selected secondary schools of Enugu State. It is a descriptive study. Four research questions were raised to guide the study. The tools used to elicit data from respondents were questionnaire, face to face interview, observation and focus group discussion guide. The data collected were analyzed using mean. The population of the study is 1520 comprising teachers, principals and students in the three selected secondary schools in Aninri Local Government Area. Taro Yamani sample selection formula was used to select a sample size of seven hundred and sixty respondents. The findings revealed that teacher-student relation affects positively or adversely academic performance of students, teacher-student relation is bedeviled by challenges and there are strategies which should be adopted to strengthen teacher-student relation. Based on these findings, appropriate recommendations such as supervision of instruction, workshop and advocacy were among the measures proffered.